Camp Nebagamon

by Joe Crain

Well, as imagined at the end of last month’s article, Mother Nature did make an about face, and the November that was like a December gave way to a December that was like a November! Right from the first day of the month of December the temps rose into the low 30s and the meager snow cover that had survived the unusually snowy November began a steady decline that continued through the month. The second week of the month gave us a brief visit with normalcy, as the temps hovered in the mid 20s throughout the week. With that little exception, the rest of December was well above average as the temps rose to the mid 30s, with the weekend of December 15^th and 16^th topping things off with 45-degree readings both days. With little to no precipitation recorded until the last couple of days of the month, the snow cover was reduced to an icy couple of inches and mostly bare grass under the trees. It wasn’t until the 29^ththat things returned to ‘normal’, with the day starting in the single digits and reaching only into the teens. And now our snow cover has returned to close to average levels as well with a rather abrupt and aggressive two-day snow storm that happened on the 27^thand 28^th. Here on the outskirts of the south shore of Lake Superior, we were blessed with just over a foot of fresh and rather sticky snow, while those lucky souls on the north shore of the Great Gitchi Gumi received a whopping 24 inches of the glorious white stuff. The storm affected much of the Midwest from the heart of Texas on up into Canada. For us the storm started with nice fluffy flakes on Wednesday night, followed by three hours of heavy rain on Thursday morning. Then that was topped off by about eight inches of heavy wet snow throughout the day, and the storm finished off with another several hours of fluffy flakes into the day on Friday. I figure that if the temps had stayed cold throughout the storm our snow total would have easily reached the 24 inches that the north shore of the big lake received, where the cold held out. With a quick check of Skinneyski.com, it looks like for the first time this December the Afterhours Ski trails of the Brule State Forest will be groomed and ski-able. Can you guess what I will be doing this afternoon?

Speaking of skiing, I was able to keep my early ski season going despite the warm and dry conditions of this month by skiing on Lake Nebagamon. The beauty of ice skiing is you only need an inch or so of snow to get a good grip and glide! I took full advantage of my opportunities to ski on the ice and was able to ski a good number of days, and was able to make tracks on all four bays as the conditions failed on shore. And not a skier to give up easily, as the lake conditions began to fail as well when the temps hit the 40’s mid-month, I donned my new wide and short back country skies and toured along the sides of the roads. But alas, that too began to melt down and I was forced to lose a whole week of ski time. Fortunately, the recent storm hit and things are looking up again.

In the shop, things have been all windows! With caretaker Andy installing all new windows in Range cabin E (Associate Director Adam Fornear’s summer abode). Cabin E has needed re-windowing for years, as the old slat style (think old mobile home style) windows have lost most of their mechanics to age and were very drafty and leaky. Andy had to tear out the old windows and do some casement work, then install some good mid-range side sliders. For my part, I have been in the shop working on the “French door” style windows of cabins A, B, and C (or Apple, Birch and Cedar for you who are newer to camp) that I had taken off of the cabins before the weather turned cold in November. The job will take me well into the new year, requiring Hours and hours of removing the old and applying new glazing compound and scraping and painting. And of course, Caretaker Jack, who is seasonal staff, is on his annual winter break, probably sipping cold drinks down at his property in Florida as I type here in the finally-frozen Northland.

Very ready to use up my last week of vacation this year by again skiing the Back Country of Yellowstone National Park the 1^stweek of January, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.